Gordon Newell was in the library the other day and gave us permission to lift this priceless story from his new book Ships of the Inland Sea.

"Steamboats were still a novelty on the Inland sea in 1859, but the members of Washington's territorial legislature were progressive men and they took passage on the Eliza Anderson to investigate plans for a territorial university in Seattle.

Click image for larger version.

"They were also observant men so they learned a lot about steamboating on the way down the Sound. By the time they arrived at the new settlement on Elliott Bay they knew that a shrill whistle-blast was a signal that the steamer was about to leave her dock and proceed on her journey. They also learned that the boiler room was a snug place to congregate when the January rains swept in to meet the boat in icy sheets.

"So, their business transacted, the lawmakers spent the night at the Queen City's pioneer hotel, the Felker House, and when, in the chill, dark pre-dawn hours, they heard a shrill whistle-blast they leaped groggily from their snug beds. Still half asleep and drowsily cussing the Anderson's uncivilized sailing schedule, they struggled down the rain-swept planks of Yesler's wharf, heading for the glow of furnaces and the warm, friendly hiss of escaping steam. Snug in the boiler room they watched a grimy fireman heave slab-wood into the fire-boxes while they congratulated themselves as having beaten the other passengers to this snug sanctuary.

"But after a wait of almost an hour the solons grew impatient. Finally the Speaker of the House approached the busy fireman and tapped him on the shoulder.

'When,' he asked politely, 'do we leave for Olympia?'

'Sir,' the fireman answered with equal courtesy, 'this sawmill does not run to Olympia!'"

Yep, the unfortunate legislators had wandered through the morning darkness into the boiler room of Henry Yesler's steam sawmill, which remained right where it was for another 30 years.